"ENRICHING THE FUTURE BY UNDERSTANDING THE PAST"

(Reflections and Study on Festivals in General)

Culture, education, and tradition are widely discussed, and it is certain that festivals are among the events where these matters are explored and celebrated.

The world consists of countries often of unprecendented levels of ethnic and cultural diversity, so that festivals often represent an exploration of the roles that people and events played in their different cultural heritage. Local events with larger repercussions are also the focus of festivals - whether it be a moment that affected national history or an important moment in civilian affairs.... .

Some communities preserved their place in history by passing their ancestors' stories and traditions from one generation to the next and celebrating them today with both ritual and contemporary cultural expressions. These events often include recreations of folk traditions, which are centered on the idea of togetherness and inspired by music, dance, art, stories, crafts, costumes, and food. Through such activities we learn more about our similarities and differences, as well as about the range of cultural expressions existing throughout the world.

Participating in festivals stimulates communication and increases an understanding of the diverse peoples and cultures preserving their unique heritage. The intermingling of traditional, ethnic, and contemporary elements contributes to the perpetuation of a culture that is experiencing a resurgence or a renaissance.

The arts, too, benefit from our tradition of festivals, which support artists providing a place for them to exhibit and demonstrate their work. Festivals also encourage artists to be informed by history. Festivals foster preservation of artistic traditions and work for their future as well as their contemporary expressions.

Musical festivals embrace all trends up to contemporary music. By making the arts their focus, festivals become a bridge between people and organizations, linking them with the broad resources that are available to them.

Festivals have many positive characteristics: they strengthen our multicultural heritage, inform educators and media about the role of the arts in their community, and make government agencies and private patrons of the arts aware of the achievements - and function - of culture and the arts. Festivals are an exceptional means of communication, through which we are able to share experiences....they foster traditions but retain the identity.